Chapter 57 Two more identities
“I’m not thinking of doing anything.” Seeing the inquisitive Seveni, Xu Yi casually responded, “It’s just recruiting a hundred elves, is there anything strange about it? Don’t forget, our Frestech Chamber of Commerce has over five hundred dwarven workers right now. The worker cards that these dwarves have, it was something your highness personally issued for me.”
Seveni’s expression wasn’t as relaxed as Xu Yi’s as she shook her head and said, “Elves are different from dwarves. Although dwarves can’t be considered to have a close relationship with humans, it isn’t that bad. Moreover, there are quite a few dwarves that live in the human world, so humans can accept dwarves much more easily. But elves used to be the rulers of the continent and although it’s been several thousand years since the race wars, there are still many humans who are still wary of elves.”
“You’re thinking too much.” Xu Yi said with a frown, “There are so few elves on the Sines Continent, I estimate there are less than ten thousand in the Lampuri Kingdom alone, so what is there to be worried about? Not to mention that elves have much lower fertility than us humans. According to what elder Illusia said, their tribe has only given birth to two elven children in the past ten years. You think a race like this is worthy of humans worrying about or being wary of?”
“I don’t think so, but some humans do. I am not worried about these elves, rather some people using this as a pretext to attack the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, causing trouble for you.” Seveni said with a serious face.
Xu Yi smiled, “The people who want to attack our company will always be able to find excuses, they won’t care about an extra few elves. Then again, your highness is supporting our company, so you can’t just sit by and not care, right?”
Seeing Xu Yi’s smiling appearance, Seveni rolled her eyes at him, “Chairman Xu, do you know that I’ve kept away quite a bit of trouble away from your company already?”
“Of course. Your highness is the saviour guiding the way for our Frestech Chamber of Commerce, I’m very clear on this. I really wish I could pull out my heart to show you my gratitude.”
Seveni’s face turned a bit red and reprimanded Xu Yi. When her face became serious again, she asked Xu Yi, “Alright, you should pay attention to this problem. I came this time mainly this time for the order of weapons and armours.”
“I also thought so. Your highness can be assured, currently we’ve finished eight thousand sets of armour. If you give us a few more months, we can complete over fifty thousand sets of armours.” Xu Yi said.
“This speed isn’t bad.” Seveni nodded, “But I came this time not to add onto the order, rather I wanted to revise the order a bit.”
“Revise?” Xu Yi saw the unnatural expression on Seveni’s face and knew that this revision wasn’t small.
As expected, Seveni paused for a bit and an apologetic look appeared in her face before she continued, “Although the army was very satisfied with the quality of the first batch of armour, some people made suggestions that production of large amounts of armour can’t be held by a normal company and needs to be controlled by the royal family and the army. So…..”
“So you’re not allowing us to make armour anymore, rather you’re changing the order to production magic machines?” When Seveni hesitated, Xu Yi casually asked this.
Seveni looked at Xu Yi in surprise, “Chairman Xu, you’re reactions are really fast.”
“It isn’t anything, I’ve heard this request countless times.” Xu Yi gave a shrug, “Everyone doesn’t hope that the things they need are controlled by others, they are most relieved as long as they control it themselves. I understand his majesty and the royal army’s worry, this is very normal.”
“That means…...chairman Xu agrees to this?”
“Of course, why wouldn’t I?” Xu Yi revealed a faint smile, “Then again, do I have the right to disagree? Alright, your highness, you don’t need to be sorry to me because I understand that the military is the foundation of a country, they definitely wouldn’t let a small company like ours control it. Even if you didn’t request this today, I would have found a chance to discuss this problem with you eventually.”
Seveni nodded, “Chairman Xu truly is a wise person, you don’t need me to explain anything. Since chairman Xu understands my meaning, then I’ll give the request the military headquarters has for you. We’ll retain the order of fifty thousand sets of armour, but the military headquarters wants to raise a special order with your Frestech Chamber of Commerce. They hope that your Frestech Chamber of Commerce can build a special factory that produces weapons and armour for the military headquarters.”
Xu Yi wasn’t surprised by this order. He stroked his chin in thought before asking, “Your highness, building a complete military factory is a very troublesome matter, other than the machines, it also requires a large amount of manpower. Could it be that you can find that many workers?”
“We can’t.” Seveni honestly shook her head, “So we need the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s help to solve these problems.”
“Relying on us?” Xu Yi pointed at himself, “Honourable highness, do you and the military headquarters think this highly of us?”
“Is there any difference? Anyway other than the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, there is no other company that can do this, right?” Seveni said with a faint smile.
Xu Yi thought about it and could only helplessly admit this was the truth.
“Alright, then what should we do?”
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It should be said that Seveni was mentioning the king and the military headquarter’s request to cooperate with Xu Yi.
With the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s current abilities, investing too much into the military business was not a good thing because it was easy to make certain people vigilant.
But helping the royal army create a military factory like this, it was easy for those people to accept.
After this matter, Xu Yi and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would have a deeper relationship with the royal army and would gain many advantages.
In terms of benefits for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, other than the large amount of income from the fifty thousand sets of armour, there was also the income from the large amounts of magic production machines and technical guidance.
The more important thing was that through this cooperation, Xu Yi had obtained the rights to mine another two Magic Crystal mines from the royal family. 𝗯𝗲𝐝𝐧𝗼𝐯𝗲𝐥.𝗻𝗲𝐭
Like this, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had three iron mines and five Magic Crystal mines.
These mines, especially the Magic Crystal mines, didn’t seem that valuable, but Xu Yi was very certain that as magic machines became even more popular, the price of iron and Magic Crystals would increase.
So Xu Yi wasn’t in a rush to mine these mines now, he just temporarily put them aside and waited for the right time to mine them.
Other than the benefits the Frestech Chamber of Commerce gained, Xu Yi had also gained some very practical benefits.
First, because of this cooperation, the king had given Xu Yi a special reward.
This meant that Xu Yi was finally no longer a normal citizen, but rather a respected lord of the Lampuri Kingdom.
Although this title didn’t have any land and was one of the lowest noble titles, it meant a change in his identity. It meant that he went from a normal citizen to a noble.
Next, the military headquarters had given Xu Yi a special advisor status in the royal army.
Although this was an empty title, it meant that Xu YI was still a part of the royal army and received some special benefits.
Of course, whether it was the identity as a lord or the special advisor of the army, their uses couldn’t be seen now.
To Xu Yi, his most important identity was the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s chairman. What he cared most would always be the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s development.
Entering July, the weather began getting even warmer. The sales amount of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s new generation Magic Fans and Magic Air Conditioners began to explode.
Compared to last month, the Magic Fans sold over twenty units halfway into the month, already surpassing last year’s sales numbers.
And the Magic Air Conditioner sails also greatly expanded.
Last summer, the Magic Air Conditioner only sold a thousand units.
But halfway through July this year, they had already sold over three thousand units.
Moreover, this was just in Banta City alone. If they added the sales numbers in the surrounding cities, it was close to ten thousand units.
This also didn’t include the store that Victor’s group of three had set up in Anvilmar City. It had to be known, based on this small store, they had sold five thousand units just this summer.
Even when exchanging an old one, the Magic Fan still earned close to a gold coin in profits.
A Magic Air Conditioner had a shocking fifteen gold coin profit margin.
Just based on these two things, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s profit in the past half a month was close to two hundred thousand gold coins.
Not to mention that the Magic Refrigerator was quickly entering the markets of Banta City and the surrounding cities. In just over ten days, they had already sold over thirty thousand units.
A Magic Refrigerator cost around four gold coins, which meant that they earned around thirteen to fourteen gold coins per unit.
With thirty thousand units in sales, that was a terrifying profit of over four hundred thousand gold coins.
“Your Frestech Chamber of Commerce really develops fast.” Banta City’s City LOrd Count Sean was looking at the tax revenue forms for the first half of the year and he shook his head. He looked at Xu Yi and said with a sigh, “Last year your Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s six months of tax revenue was less than twenty thousand gold coins. But this year, just last month you paid around forty thousand gold coins, which means that your company earned at least two hundred thousand gold coins last month. This month your Magic Fans, Magic Air Conditioners, and the new Magic Refrigerators are all selling well, so I think that your company should earn at least five hundred thousand this month.”
Xu Yi just smiled, neither confirming or denying it.
“Lord Count, this is just this month. Right now the people of Banta City and the surrounding city are buying what they need, but next month, I promise that the sales for our products will be very bad. Perhaps we might not even reach a hundred thousand next month. I am currently worried about what to do.”
“You’re worried? Shouldn’t the chairman of the other companies commit suicide by jumping into the river?” Count Sean scolded with a smile, “Alright, your company making money is a good thing for our Banta City. Right now the people of Banta City have stable work, can earn money, and everyone’s lives are getting better, so my job as the City Lord is much easier. Speaking of this, this is the merit of you and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.”
Xu Yi waved his hand, “How could that be? Banta City’s current state is all because of the Lord Count’s wise leadership, it’s not related to my Frestech Chamber of Commerce at all.”
“Stop flattering me?” Count Sean reprimanded, “At least the several dozen small companies from your plan aren’t related to me, as well as the industrial area around the Sandton Manor.”
“How is it not related! If it wasn’t for the Lord Count’s support, how could the plan have passed? How could the industrial area have been built? The Lord Count is being too modest!”
Count Sean smiled and shook his head. He flipped through the papers on the table before taking one out to throw in front of Xu Yi, “I didn’t call you here to just praise you, rather I wanted to raise some money from you.”
Chapter 58 Banta City’s new plan
“Raising funds?” Xu Yi was stunned, “Lord Count, you’re raising funds from me? What a joke!”
“It’s not a joke, you’ll know if you take a look.” Count Sean pointed at the document in front of Xu Yi.
Xu Yi opened the document to take a look and found that it was a plan that was targeted at Banta City as a whole.
According to this plan, Count Sean wanted to rebuild Banta City as a whole, connecting the villages around Banta City to Banta City. It would be no longer like the previous Banta City and previous villages outside the city, they would all become one.
To achieve this, first they had to build roads.
The reason before why the villagers outside Banta City and the citizens in Banta City belonged to two different worlds was mainly because transportation was just too difficult.
According to the stats of this plan, there were currently seventy three villages outside Banta City and there were only thirty four villages that had roads connecting to Banta City. The rest of these villages didn’t have a single complete road that was connected to Banta City and even many of these villagers had never taken a single step out of their villages.
So the first step of this plan was to build enough connecting roads, linking these villages to Banta City.
Like this, whether it was the villagers in the villages or the citizens of Banta City, they could all associate with one another.
“According to the inspections of the people I’ve sent, there are quite a few valuable items hidden in the villages on the mountains or in the swamps, but because there is no way to transport them, they are all being wasted. Among them is the Magma Berry that you mentioned to me last time.” Seeing that Xu Yi had already finished reading the first few pages, Count Sean said, “If we can build roads connecting to these villages, we should be able to improve the lives of the villagers living there.”
Xu Yi looked at the serious Count Sean and was almost mistaken that he had returned to earth.
“Count Sean, this idea isn’t bad, but it’s very hard to implement this plan.” Xu Yi pointed at the map on the plan awkwardly and said, “Look, it’s easy for those thirty four villages that already have roads, we can just fix up those roads and connect those villages, but for the remaining villages…...Based on the map, we can build a single road that connects them for most of these villages, but there are some that it is impossible for.”
“I never said we would solve them all at once, that is too unrealistic.” Count Sean waved his hand and said, “My goal is to first solve the road problem of these thirty four villages first and develop them first. As for the other villages, we’ll slowly think of a solution after studying them further.”
“That is more like it.” Xu Yi nodded. He carefully looked over the map before saying with a bitter smile, “But Lord Count, the closest of these thirty for villages is less than two killometers and the furthest is more than twenty kilometers away. If we were to build roads for all of them, it would be around four to five hundred kilometers of road. This…..”
“I’ve already calculated it, it’s a total of around four hundred and sixty kilometers of road. According to the rate of the Falling Rain Road, it should cost around nine hundred thousand gold coins.” Count Sean followed up.
“Nine hundred thousand gold coins……” Xu Yi looked at Count Sean with a difficult expression, “Lord Count, although our Frestech Chamber of Commerce has earned a bit of money, it’s impossible for us to take out nine hundred thousand at once. Not to mention, it’s a donation…...It’ll be hard to explain this to the other people of the company.”
“It’s not given up for free, what are you worried about?” Count Sean looked at Xu Yi, “I’m looking for your help, so of course there are benefits for you. Could it be that I don’t even understand such simple logic? Listen well, according to my thoughts, as long as your Frestech Chamber of Commerce can take out that much money, I can exempt the Frestech Chamber of Commerce from paying taxes for a year. Other than this, for the villages that have new roads built, your Frestech Chamber of Commerce can receive the rights to develop them for three years. It means that your Frestech Chamber of Commerce can take whatever you want, as long as the villagers don’t complain and you don’t kill and pillage the villagers.”
Xu Yi’s eyes lit up, “Then I can do what I want in those villages?”
“It can be considered this.” Count Sean nodded, “As for whether you can earn money and how much you can make, it’ll depend on your skills.”
Xu Yi instantly began calculating in his heart.
If he agreed to Count Sean, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce could avoid paying taxes for a year.
According to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s current profits, they would earn at least three million gold coins in a single year.
If they could avoid paying taxes, they would gain at least four hundred thousand gold coins.
Then the cost of building the roads would only be five hundred thousand gold coins.
As for whether he could earn that five hundred thousand gold coins from the villages…...Xu Yi couldn’t guarantee this now, but he had enough confidence to achieve this.
“Alright, then we’ll do this. But Lord Count, it’ll take some time if you want to build these roads and we can only slowly start with one village at a time.” Xu Yi thought about it and used his finger to draw a circle around Banta City, “I feel that first we should mark an area of ten kilometers around Banta City to create a network of roads first. Then we slowly advance outwards before we connect all of Banta City with roads.”
“Un, this idea isn’t bad, it’s quite realistic. Alright, we’ll just follow this idea first. But let’s put the idea of building roads aside first, let’s first look at the contents of this plan first.” Count Sean flipped through several pages before pointing at a map and saying, “This is part of my plan for a suburb in Banta City, what do you think?”
Xu Yi looked at it and couldn’t help knitting his brows, “Lord Count, why does it seem quite familiar?”
Count Sean laughed, “Of course you would find it familiar, this blueprint was made based on the Falling Rain Valley.”
Xu Yi suddenly understood and carefully took a look, finding that this map had many similarities to the design of the Falling Rain Valley. For example, the separation of industrial and living areas, as well as a network of roads connecting it.
But after looking for a while, Xu Yi found a problem.
“Lord Count, the industrial area that you’ve designated, there are clearly two villages in this area.”
Count Sean waved his hand, “Just have them leave.”
“Then what about compensation?”
“Compensation?” Count Sean looked at Xu Yi in surprise, “Just have them leave, what compensation?”
Xu Yi was instantly speechless, this was the forceful eviction of the Sines Continent?
Thinking about it, Xu Yi said to Count Sean, “Lord Count, just leave this project to me. Chairman Cruise and I are very familiar with this matter.”
Count Sean looked at Xu Yi with a bit of surprise, “I just wanted your opinion on this, but since you’ve taken the initiative to take this project, that’s good. Alright, I’ll leave this project to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and the Amrit Chamber of Commerce, I’ll wait for your results.”
Xu Yi nodded in response.
After discussing some general details with Count Sean, he rejected his invitation to eat a meal before Xu Yi left the City Lord’s Manor.
It was currently sunset, so the temperature was much cooler. There was a breeze that blew past and brought a bit of a chill.
The street by the City Lord’s Manor was regulated, so it was considered peaceful. When he turned the corner and entered the street by the City Lord’s Manor, he immediately found that even though it was close to dinner, there were many people still on the street wandering around.
All kinds of people walked through the streets. Some seemed like they were taking a strong, but most of them looked like they were rushing about, like they had many things to take care of.
There were countless shops that lined both sides of the street, as large and small vendors took up pieces of space on the road, calling out their wares.
Seeing this crowded and busy scene, Xu Yi couldn’t help feeling emotional.
He remembered when he first came to Banta City. Because of how remote this small city was, the rhythm of the city was quite slow and it was very peaceful.
But now just after a single year, this small city had become this bustling.
According to the stats of the City Lord’s Manor, the current population of Banta City was more than twice what it was last year.
There were less than fifty thousand people last year, but now there were over a hundred thousand people.
Moreover, this was just the main city inside the walls. If that included the people living outside the walls, the current population of Banta City would be three times what it was last year.
The reason why this situation occurred was because there was an explosion of jobs in Banta City, so the amount of manpower in Banta City wasn’t enough to satisfy this demand.
Adding in the drive of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and their large demand for manpower, the average wage in Banta City was rather high.
So the people of the surrounding cities, including Karma City, Saltan City, even the further Canberra and Norton Cities had people who came to Banta City looking for work.
Now that Banta City was filled with people from all different cities, one could hear the difference in accents for the universal language of the Sines Continent when walking through the streets.
This scene reminded Xu Yi of the special economic areas when they first developed on earth.
Of course, the scale was still much smaller.
While having these thoughts, Xu Yi was walking towards his home.
Today Still said that she wanted to make dinner with Vivian, so Xu Yi was looking forward to that.
After walking through half the street, there were several horse carriages that slowly moved by Xu Yi.
Xu Yi looked over and saw that those horse carriages had the mark of the Sarank Chamber of Commerce. Thinking about it, he began walking towards those horse carriages.